Shadow's Son by Jon Sprunk
- Written by Jeremy Shane on Saturday, April 02 2011 and posted in Reviews
Book Review of Jon Sprunk's debut novel: Shadow's Son.
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Rating: 3.5
Cover Blurb:In the holy city of Othir, treachery and corruption lurk at the end of every street, just the place for a freelance assassin with no loyalties and few scruples. Caim makes his living on the edge of a blade, but when a routine job goes south, he is thrust into the middle of an insidious plot. Pitted against crooked lawmen, rival killers, and sorcery from the Other Side, his only allies are Josephine, the socialite daughter of his last victim, and Kit, a guardian spirit no one else can see. But in this fight for his life, Caim only trusts his knives and his instincts, but they won’t be enough when his quest for justice leads him from Othir’s hazardous back alleys to its shining corridors of power. To unmask a conspiracy at the heart of the empire, he must claim his birthright as the Shadow’s Son…
Shadow's Son follows the adventures of assassin Caim and his odd spiritual companion Kit. The story of course starts out with what looks like a common assassination job and turns into a much bigger task as the larger plot unfolds.
Many of the characters are a bit overly defined in their roles. The damsel in distress does little to break out of her role and the bad guys are very much, well... bad. Though that is not to say that any of them aren't likable for what the purpose they serve in the story. In the end, Sprunk just writes it all well enough to work without it being much of a bother.
Most of the magic comes in form of supernatural abilities, Caim himself having the power to pull shadow's around him. Very much a sword and sorcery book over high fantasy, Sprunk entertains with excellent fight scenes and keeping the story moving nicely and fun.
Bottom Line:
Fans of Brent Weeks work and stories of lovable rogues looking for a fast paced action story (this comes in under 300 pages) will enjoy Shadow's Son. It is out now in trade paperback form from Pyr publishing and a sequel should be coming to us this summer.
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About the Author - xaraan
Xaraan (zah-ron), you can call him Jeremy if you prefer, but after twenty years of using xaraan online, he'll answer to that faster. When not doing photography, xaraan writes for us covering books, gaming, tv, movies, sometimes even comics, plus creating a weekly webcomic. If you look for him offline, start in the L.A. area; online start at www.xaraan.com.
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